Readings

GIVING LIFE TO LIFE: A Spring Retreat

Join Joshin Brian Byrnes during this weekend retreat giving us the rare opportunity to drop into the deep questions related to time, life, death, rebirth, and no birth no death. On Saturday, a day trip is scheduled to the ancient Pueblo ruins and cave dwellings of Tsankawi.

Social Action & Science

Being With DyingThis Professional Training Program for Clinicians in Compassionate Care of the Seriously Ill and Dying is fostering a revolution in care of the dying and seriously ill. Clinicians learn essential tools for taking care of dying people with skill and compassion.

ChaplaincyA visionary and comprehensive two-year program for a new kind of chaplaincy to serve individuals, communities, the environment, and the world.

Curriculum

This revolutionary and practical training program for health care professionals gives essential tools for work with dying people and their families. Designed PRIMARILY for physicians and nurses, the training also includes a core of experienced social workers, hospice workers, psychologists, chaplains, and clergy.

The training covers core issues related to dying, death, and grieving; ethical issues in end-of-life care and training in the communication of difficult news; community building around dying persons and relationship-centered care; NEUROSCIENCE, SELF-CARE, CAPACITY BUILDING, and RESILIENCE training; approaches to psychological and spiritual care of the dying; the relationship between pain and suffering; peri-death phenomena; and care of the caregiver.

Over the years, this program has been a key resource for hundreds of health care professionals in the U.S., Canada, and Europe who are dedicated to transforming the environment around dying. The learning process is rich with seminars, direct teachings, exploratory processes and reflective practices.

The Professional Training Program in Contemplative End-of-Life Care has long been dedicated to fostering a revolution in care of the dying. This unique program provides clinicians with essential tools for taking care of dying people with skill and compassion, as well as sustaining resilience and dedication as they serve others.

This unparalleled program brings together, in a unique and powerful way, wisdom and practicality to the very sensitive and inevitable experience of encountering the end of life. The training program addresses the need for healthcare providers to develop knowledge and skills in the psycho-social, ethical, existential, and spiritual aspects of dying; an approach to caregiving that is relationship-centered, including community development and cross-cultural; the development of skills related to care of the caregiver; and the means to implement these skills in traditional medical settings. Much of the content in the training is not addressed in the current education of physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers, and is essential in the care of dying people.

The training curriculum was developed in the early 1970’s by Dr. Joan Halifax, and has been taught since 1972 in hundreds of medical and educational institutions around the world, including in Western and Eastern Europe, Canada, the Americas and Middle East, Asia, and the United States. The training covers many important areas, including:

Ethical, spiritual, psychological, and social aspects of care of the dying;

The neuroscientiﬁc basis of contemplative interventions in care of the dying;

Implementation of psycho-social and spiritual content into conventional medical settings.

The training uses many learning modalities, including: didactic and self-directed learning, inquiry and creative processes, peer-to-peer learning and dialog, case study and council practice, reﬂective practices, including mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques, yoga, and practices enhancing the awareness and importance of the inner life and professional responsibility.

The program is a means for personal and professional exploration and is not therapy.

The training is an important source of learning and information for healthcare professionals who are dedicated to transforming the environment around dying.

Campus

Set in a beautiful educational center nestled in the historic eastside of Santa Fe, New Mexico, the training program takes place in an ideal environment for healthcare providers to learn crucial skills in care of the dying and renew their commitment to their work.

Upaya Recommends

GIVING LIFE TO LIFE: A Spring Retreat from April 3 - 5, 2015.This weekend retreat gives us the rare opportunity to drop into the deep questions related to time, life, death, rebirth, and no birth no death.